Easy A | Review
In a world where the teenage-high school film genre is a worn out and tired formula, ‘Easy A’ shines by offering something new. It’s funny, smart, witty, and never settles for the cliche. ‘Easy A’ is easily an A!
Emma Stone stars in her breakout role as the film’s main character, Olive Penderghast. Olive is apparently a “nobody” at East Ojai High School, and her best and only friend, Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), is obnoxiously foul-mouthed. At the start of the film Rhiannon invites Olive to her family’s camping trip for the weekend. Olive lies and says she has plans that weekend, going on a date with a guy. Lying is the central aspect of ‘Easy A.’
After the weekend, in which Olive did nothing but stay upstairs and listen nonstop to a song she hates (Pocketful of Sunshine), Rhiannon insistently asks for details about her “date.” Olive ends up lying and saying she lost her virginity over the weekend. However, a problem quickly arises when the school’s extremely religious Christian classmate, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), overhears Olive admitting she lost her virginity. Soon enough the entire school learns of Olive’s lost virginity. Olive may have been “invisible” before, but now all the attention’s on her.
Olive hasn’t told anyone the truth yet, but when she’s in detention (for calling a fellow Christian extremist a bad, bad word) she ends up revealing the truth to a fellow detention-mate, Brandon, who is gay and gets bullied for it every day. When Brandon asks Olive tofake having sex with him, she initially rejects his proposal. However, the nice and helpful girl that she is, Olive agrees to the plan to help end Brandon’s bullying. The two enact their plan at a party, where there are sure to be many witnesses, and soon enough everyone believes and falls for the plan. Days later, more and more guys, mostly the “nerdy” or “loser” types, pay Olive to pretend they did a variety of things with her in order to raise their high school social-status. Olive is now opened for business.
See, Olive’s problem isn’t that she’s a pathological liar or anything. Olive just wants to help people who are down in the dumps. She downgrades her reputation to improve others’. Throughout all this trampy and trashy mess, we still like Olive because Emma Stone’s portrayal of her is charming and confident. Emma Stone has also starred in ‘Superbad’ and ‘Zombieland.’ I’ve only seen ‘Zombieland,’ but she was great in that, too.
‘Easy A’ boasts a strong ensemble cast that includes a variety of hilariously memorable characters. Olive’s parents are some of the many highlights in the film, hilariously portrayed by Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) and Patricia Clarkson (Shutter Island). Olive’s parents are the parents that every teenager wished they had. They’re carefree, yet at the same time supportive and trustful of their children. Olive’s favorite and likable teacher, Mr. Griffith, is portrayed by Thomas Haden Church (George of the Jungle, Spider-Man 3, Imagine That), and his wife is memorably portrayed by Lisa Kudrow (Friends). Kudrow may seem like just another funny character thrown into the mix, but she’s actually more important to the film as it goes on.
The film may have one big conflict, which is Olive’s lies and downgrading reputation, but this one conflict soon causes many more problems for her. She loses old friends and new friends. Many guys have payed Olive to pretend to do many things with her, but not one guy has asked her out on a real date, and she wonders why. Another problem arises that concerns Marianne’s also extremely Christian boyfriend (Cam Gigandet), and it’s a pretty shocking one and will surely catch you off-guard.
‘Easy A’ is never cliched, not even with it’s romantic side. There’s a guy (portrayed by Penn Badgley from The Stepfather) Olive has had a crush on for years, and there’s a part in the film where they seem to be closer and their relationship seems to escalate. How come, of all the guys at her school, the one boy Olive likes doesn’t believe all the rumors? The guy’s reasoning and explanation for this is a good one, and it makes sense because it ties into something Olive indistinctly mentioned to us early on in the film.
Six years ago we were given ‘Mean Girls’, which offered something new to the teenage-high school-comedy genre. ‘Mean Girls’ was hilarious and clever, and ‘Easy A’ is pretty much in the same league as it. This is the first film I’ve seen by director Will Gluck, who also directed 2009’s ‘Fired Up!’. Gluck’s next film, ‘Friends with Benefits,’ is to be released next year, and once again features Emma Stone and Patricia Clarkson, as well as Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show), and Woody Harrelson (Zombieland, Seven Pounds).
Three and a half out of four Kents.
PS: ‘Mean Girls’ is one of the most quotable films ever. ‘Easy A’ is probably just as funny, and also has some quotable lines, though not as much as ‘Mean Girls.’
PSS: ‘Easy A’ features cameos that include: Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Lalaine (Lizzie McGuire), and Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live).
PSSS: If you don’t believe me that ‘Easy A’ is an amazing comedy film, or with my friends, here’s some extra commentary: Justin Timberlake – “Wanna see a movie that’s great??? Go see Easy A tonight!!! E. Stone rocks in it. ‘Nuff said” Taylor Swift – “Just saw Easy A. Easily, definitely, absolutely my new favorite movie.“
